Dutch Eredivisie Soccer Game Live

The Eredivisie (Dutch pronunciation: [eːrədivizi] "division of honor" or "first division") is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands in 1956. At the end of the 2015-2016 season, it was ranked as the 13th best European Championship by UEFA.

The first division comprises 18 clubs. Each club meets with each club twice during the season, once at home and once in a row. At the end of each season, the club at the bottom is automatically relegated to the second tier of the Dutch league system, the Eerste Division (first division). At the same time, the champion of Eerste Divisie will be automatically promoted to Eredivisie. The next two clubs at the bottom of the Eredivisie play in the playoffs with six clubs from the Eerste division.

Ajax has won the most titles, 25 (33 national titles). PSV Eindhoven is next with 21 (24) and Feyenoord with 10 (15). Since 1965, these three clubs have won all but three titles of the Eredivisie (titles of 1981 and 2009 went to AZ and Twente won the title in 2010). They are the only ones in their current form to appear in all editions of Eredivisie since its inception. A fourth club, FC Utrecht, is the result of a merger in 1970 between three of these clubs, of which, VV DOS, had never been relegated from the Eredivisie.

From 1990 to 1999, the official name of the league was PTT Telecompetitie (after the sponsor, PTT Telecom), which was replaced by KPN Telecompetitie (because PTT Telecom became KPN Telecom in 1999) and KPN Eredivisie in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, the league was called Holland Casino Eredivisie. Since the 2005-2006 season, the league was sponsored by the Sponsorloterij (lottery), but for legal reasons, its name could not be linked to the league (the Dutch government was against it because the Eredivisie still sponsored by a company gambling provider). On August 8, 2012, it was announced that Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch had acquired the rights of the Eredivisie for 12 years at the cost of one billion euros, beginning in the 2013/2014 season. As part of this agreement, it is expected that the five largest Eredivisie clubs will receive € 5 million per year during the term of the contract.

History

Since the founding of the Dutch National Football Championship in 1898 until 1954, the draw was made by a handful of clubs that have already won their regional championships. The contest was purely amateur. The Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) rejected all forms of payment and suspended players caught in the act of payment or transfer. The call to professional football was developed in the early fifties after many members of the national team went abroad to play for financial gain. The KNVB would generally suspend these players, preventing them from appearing for the Dutch national team. After the flood of the North Sea in 1953, the Dutch players abroad (playing mainly in the French league) organized a charity match against the French team in Paris. The game was boycotted by the KNVB, but after meeting Dutch players had defeated the French (2-1), the Dutch public has witnessed the heights that could be achieved through professional football. To serve this growing interest, a dissident professional football association (NBVB) and a league were created for the 1954-1955 season. On July 3, 1954, the KNVB meets with a group of presidents of interested amateur clubs, who fear that the best players will join the professional teams. The meeting, called "slaapkamer conferentie" ("conference in the bedroom"), led the Association to reluctantly accept semi-professionalism.

Meanwhile, the KNVB and the NBVB have started their own competition. The first professional football game was played between Alkmaar and Venlo. The leagues continued for eleven rounds before a merger between the two federations was negotiated in November. Both leagues were canceled and a new combined competition appeared immediately. De Graafschap, Amsterdam, Alkmaar and Fortuna '54 of NBVB have been accepted into the new league. Other clubs merged, giving rise to new names like Rapid J.C., Holland Sport, and Roda Sport. For the 1956-1957 season, the KNVB abandoned the regional league system. The Eredivisie was founded, in which the eighteen best clubs in the country have transmitted directly for the league title without dams. The first members of the Eredivisie in 1956 were Ajax, BVC, BVV, DOS, EVV, Elinkwijk, SC Enschede, Feijenoord Fortuna '54, GVAV, MVV, NAC, NOAD, PSV, Rapid JC, Sparta, and VVV '03 Willem. II. Ajax was the first team to win the title this season.

Summary

Organising body: KNVB

Founded: 1956; 62 years ago

Country: Netherlands

Confederation: UEFA

Number of teams: 18

Level on pyramid: 1

Relegation to: Eerste Divisie

Domestic cup(s): KNVB Cup, Johan Cruyff Shield

International cup(s) : UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League

Current champions: PSV Eindhoven (24th title) (2017–18)

Most championships: Ajax (33 titles)

Website: Eredivisie.nl

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